Steady rest



Oct. 21, 1952 B. WELTE El AL STEADY REST 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Sept. 29 1950 Oct. 21, 1952 B. WELTE ET AL 2,614,371

STEADY REST Filed Sept. 29. 1950 r 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED" ESTEADY RE'ST' "LEene'diclrWelte, Lake? Orion, and OlneyJLAbbott;

JrgDetroit, Mich.,;assignors to GoloniaLBroach Company, a: corporation of. Delaware Application september 29, 1950,581131 No. 187,436

The present invention relates to ant improved straight line movement at right angles torthe axis of rotation and the other of whichvis mounted for pivotal movement about an-axisparallel to 1 the axis of rotation. Previously known. steady rests of thistype. havebeenso constructed that they had only a limited range ofv adjustment throughout which the: working :sur faceof the pivotally mounted element'wouldremain.tangent to. a cylindrical workpiece of the diameterv cor--. responding to its adjustment I I v In some types ofmachinesy-suchfor example, as round broach sharpening machines,,it is-high- 1y desirable to havea single steady. rest which nay be adjusted throughout a wide range for support ing broaches of widely differing diameters-and both working surfaces of which will remain substantially tangent to a breach of "the. diameter for which the steady rest isiadjustedlv Accordingly, it is'an object ofthe present. in.- vention to provide an improved'st'e'ady restlwhich is economical to manufacture, .i reliable. and, efficient in operation, and whichlmay beadjusted for, use with workpieces of-.-wldely. varyingdiameters while maintaining both w'orksurfacesthereofjtangent to acylindrical'workpiece of the diameter for whichthesteady rest is adjusted.

Other and more d'etailedobjectsof'the. invention will be apparent froma consideration. of the following specification, the appended. claims,.and. the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of. asteady Claims. (ohm- 233 the worktablel t2 oi -which is illustrated in broken lines .inJFigure.- 1,-and which supports an elongated. workpiecev (not. shown) for rotation about a fixedaxisindicated at! H. -As. mentioned above, aniexampleof such amachine isla round broach sharpeningxmachine. The steady rest Hl generally: comprisesia body l6..adapted to be secured toythe. worktablec'l2,.aifirstjaw element. [.8 havingv a flat work:engaging;;surfaces2U andmounted on said body with thersurfacezzfl parallel to the axis- I4, .the element l8; being-movable inastraight line towardgand: awayi-fromxthev. axis 14, and .a

second jaw element l! having a-flat work engag-ingsurfaceyflr and. mounted on the" body It for pivotal movement: throughout a wide range ofadjustment while maintainingpthe surface 24 parallel toaxis Hand havingqsome portion of the surface; a-t-right angles. to a linefromthe axis ILto-that portion of the surface-'24.

Considering the above mentioned structure in greater detail, the, body 1 6 is adapted to rest upon tne worktable 4 2 and. includes an integrally formed downwardly extending. fixed clamping jaw-2,6 at its inner side,;ac lapted.t0 extend downwardly into a-fslottinthe worktable, .and a movable clamping jaw-28lslidablysupportedfor movement. towardland away-fronrthefixed j aw 26- ona shankportion of a .;stud- 30'supported on'the body. I16. .Thejaw 28 is adapted toextend downwardly along the front of the worktable sand carries a screw. 32 adapted to co -operate with the. fixed clamp. 2 6Tto. secure thesteady rest to theworktable i:2.. Thescrew32iis locked in adjustedposition by a nut 34.

. .For urging the 'jaw 28' toward the jaw-26, 211

eccentric cam Slidsmounted on .-a-pin.38 ior ro tation therewith. and a handle Ail-is fixed to the pin138 l for. operating the. cam -36 'Itl Willlreadily beappre'ciat'edthat as thehandle 40 isnioved in a clockwise direction to the position illustrated, the movable jawi28is cammedtoward the-fixe d aw. v

The body l6 of thesteadyrest 10 extends up Wardly from: the clamping jaws. 26' and 28' and has a bore .42: extending, therethrough and disposedto extend atjright angles to-the.axis-l4. In the preferred embodiment illustrated; the bore. 45'? is horizontally disposed. mounted in the 'bore 42' for. sliding movement longitudinally "thereofiand is provided with aslot 46 extendinglongitudinally. thereof .anddi'sposed at its lower-side. The sleeve is held against' rotary movementrela tiveto the body l6 by a ring ili fixed ina recessin-the body- H5 at the right. hand end 'of the bore-fl, as viewed in Figure, 1, and having a radially-inwardly extending projec A .sleeve 44 is tion 50 extending into the slot 46. The work engaging element I3 is mounted in the outer end of the sleeve 44 and is secured in place by a set screw 52. The outer end of the work engaging element I8 is formed as best illustrated in Figures 1 and 4 to provide the above mentioned flat work engaging surface 20. It will be noted that this surface 20'has a rather short width measured along the axis l4 to facilitate the engagement of cylindrical surfaces on the workpieces which are of limited axial extent.

The sleeve 44 is internally threaded as indicated at 54 for co-operation with an externally threaded shaft 56 which threads into the inner end of the sleeve 44 at the end remote from the work engaging element 18 and extends through the bore 42 and outwardly of the left hand side of the body as viewed in Figure 1. An annular plate 58 is received over the outer end of the shaft 56 and is mounted on the body It by means of screws 60. The plate 58 has a recess in its inner face closely fitting, a collar 62' integrally formed on the shaft 56. The outer end of the shaft 56 carries a knob 54 secured thereto by a set screw 66. The knob 64 engages the outer surface of the annular plate 58 to prevent axial movement of thershaft 56 in one direction and the collar 62 engages theopposite side of the plate 58 to prevent axial movement of the shaft 56 in the opposite direction.

It will now be appreciated that upon rotation of the knob 64 in one direction the threaded engagement of the shaft 56 and the sleeve 44 will effect longitudinal movement of the sleeve 44 and the work engaging element l8 carried thereby, in one direction longitudinally of the bore 42, or toward or away from the axis I4 and rotation of the knob 64 in the opposite direction will effect movement ofthe sleeve 44 and Work engaging element l8 in the opposite direction.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the work engageing element 22 is carried at one end of an arm 68 in which it is secured by a set screw 10 and is of a shape similar to the work engaging element I8. angles to the arm 68 and has its upperend portion formed as best illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 It extends generally at right to provide the above mentioned work engaging surface 24 which also has a narrow width measured along the axis I4 similar to the surface 20. The opposite end of the arm 68 is bifurcated to provide spaced arm portions I2, the outer ends of which have aligned apertures 14. A pivot pin Z6 is mounted in the body I6 and is disposed slightly above the bore 42 and extends at right angles to the bore 42 and parallel to the axis M. The opposite ends of the pivot pin 76 extend through the aligned apertures 14 to pivotally support the arm 68 on the body I6. At the juncture of the arm portions 12 with the main arm 68 is a downwardly extending boss 18 which is provided with an arcuate surface 80 which is engaged as hereinafter described to effect pivotal movement of the arm 68 about the pivot pin 16.

In spaced relation below the bore 42, the body I 6 carries a shaft 84, the right hand end of which, as viewed in Figure 1, is rounded for co-operating with the arcuate surface 80 on the boss 18. The shaft, generally indicated at 84, includes an intermediate portion 86 which is externally threaded for co-operation with an internally threaded member 88 which is secured to the body l6 by means of screws 90 extending through a flange 92 on the member 88. The main portion of the threaded member 88 is cylindrical and extends 4 into a cylindrical recess 94 in the body B6. The shaft 84 also includes an outer end portion 96 extending outwardly of the threaded member 88 and carrying a knob 98 secured thereto by a'set screw I00. Upon rotation of the knob 98, the shaft 84 is moved axially through the fixed threaded member 88. It will be appreciated that when the knob 98 is rotated in a direction to move the shaft 84 to the left, as viewed in Figure 1, the rounded end of the shaft 84 tends to move away from the arcuate surface 8|] of the boss E8 on the arm 88 and the force of gravity acting on the arm 68 causes it to pivot about the pivot pin 16 in a clockwise direction, thereby maintaining the surface 8Il in contact with the adjacent rounded end of the shaft 84. Upon return movement of the shaft 84 to the right toward the position illustrated in Figure 1, the engagement of the rounded end of the shaft 84 with the arcuate surface 88 forces the arm 68 in a cotmterclockwise direction toward the position illustrated in full lines in Figure l.

Inthe preferred embodiment'illustrated, the jaw elements l8 and 22 are movable to accommodate workpieces of widely varying diameters. The controlling factor limiting minimum diameter is interference between the jaws l8 and 22, and the controlling factor limiting the maximum diameter is the requirement'that surface 24 must be tangent to the cylindrical surface for which it is adjusted, it being appreciated that the condition of tangency, with relation to surface 20 of jaw I8 is unaffected by any movement of the jaw l8 away from the axis 14 along a straight line.

The wide range of movement of the jaw 22 of the embodiment illustrated results from the length of the arm 68, the disposition of the pivot pin 14 relative to the surface 24 and the axis l4, and the extent of the surface 24 measured at right angles to the axis I4. It will be appreciated that if either the arm 68 is sufficiently long and/or the surface 24 isof sufficiently great extent measured at right angles to theaxis [4, the steady rest could'be adjusted for workpieces of widely varying diameters. It is an important feature of the present invention that an optimum range of adjustment for a pivotally mounted jaw element having a surface 24 of a practical extent transversely of the axis [4 and mounted on an arm of a practical length, can be obtained by properly locating pivot point of the arm.

Another way of stating the above mentioned controlling factor of tangency is that for each adjusted position of the element 22 there must be a point on the surface 24 at which a perpendicular to the surface 24 will intersect the axis [4. By locating the axis of pivotal movement of the arm 68 to the same side of a plane including the surface 24 as is the axis I4, and spacing it from theplane a distance greater than that of the axis [4, a construction is providedin which the arm may be moved through two angularly spaced positions in which a given perpendicular to the surface 24 intersects the axis [4. The angular spacing of these positions may be fixed as desired by varying the distance of the pivot point from the plane which, however, must not be so great thatatsome intermediate position no line from said axis perpendicular to said plane will intersect said surface. The extent of the flat surface in one direction from the given perpendicular controls the maximum angular spacing of the above mentioned angularly spaced positions and the extent of the fiat surface in the opposite direction from the given perpendicular controls the usable range of movement beyond one of these angularly spaced positions. As indicated above, movement beyond the other is controlled by interference of the jaw elements l8 and 22. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, one of the, above mentioned angularly spaced positions is illustrated in full lines in Figure 1 and the other is illustrated in broken lines and indicated by the reference character I02. The limit to the useful range of movement is indicated by reference character IE4.

While only one specific embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A steady rest for a machine including a worktable and means adjustable for rotatably supporting elongated cylindrical elements of a wide range of sizes for rotation about a fixed axis, said steady rest comprising a body, means for securing said body to said table, a first memher having a flat first surface disposed at one side of and parallel to said axis to tangentially engage elements mounted in said machine for rotation about said axis, means mounting said member on said body for adjustment along a line perpendicular to said first surface and intersecting said axis, a second member having a fiat second surface adapted to engage said elements in angularly spaced relation relative to the engagement thereof by said first surface of said first member, means mounting said second member on said body for pivotal adjustment about a second axis parallel to said axis and disposed, when said member is in the position in which said second surfaceis at its closest approach to said first named axis, remotely from a plane including said first named axis and perpendicular to said second surface and at the opposite side of a plane including said first named axis and parallel to said second surface from said second surface so that in two angularly and substantially spaced ment along a horizontal line at right angles to 1 said surface and intersecting said axis, a second member having a fiat second surface adapted to engage said elements in angularly spaced relation relative to the engagement thereof by said surface of said first member, means mounting said second member on said body for pivotal movement about a second axis parallel to said axis, said second member being movable to a position of closest approach to said axis in which said second surface thereof is disposed substantially horizontally and below said first named axis, said second axis being disposed remotely from a vertical plane includingsaid first axis and at the same side thereof as said first surface of said first member and being disposed substantially above said horizontal line so that in two angularly and substantially spaced positions of said second member the same perpendicular to said second surface intersects said first axis, and the spacing of said second axis from said vertical plane and from said horizontal line being so related to the extent of said second surface transversely of said first axis that in all positions of said second member intermediate said angularly positions of said second member the same perpendicular to said second surface intersects said first axis, and the spacing of said second axis from said planes being so related to the extent of said second surface that in all positions of said 5 second member intermediate said angularly spaced positions said second surface includes a portion the perpendicular to which intersects said first axis.

spaced positions thereof said second surface includes a portion the perpendicular to which intersects said first axis.

BENEDICT W'ELTE. CLNEY J. ABBOTT, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,163,041 Shearer Dec. 7, 1915 1,867,112 Steiner et al July 12, 1932 2,286,620 Hollengreen June 16, 1942 

